Nuclear Weapons
Nuclear Weapons '''(sometimes called '''atomic weapons, nuclear bombs, nukes, atomic bombs or A-bombs) are the most powerful weapons in current existence, with small ones being able to flatten entire cities. They generate extreme amounts of force and heat via nuclear reactions that create very hot explosions several kilometres in diameter. Accidents with Nuclear Weapons * 1961: A plane carrying two nuclear bombs in North Carolina, USA lost its wing dropped the bombs in the countryside, the parachutes of one bomb failed and it broke upon impact, with 5 out of the 6 safety devices failing.Union of Concerned Scientists (2015) - Close Calls with Nuclear Weapons * 1962: During an underground test of a nuclear bomb in the Algerian desert by the French military, an improperly sealed shaft has a flame burst through its concrete cap and radioactive gases and dust are vented into the atmosphere. The explosion climbed up to 2600m high and radiation was detected hundreds of kilometers away. About a hundred soldiers and officials, including two ministers, were irradiated. The number of contaminated Algerians is unknown.Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_military_nuclear_accidents#1960s * 2007: 6 live nuclear weapons in the US are accidentally loaded onto an aircraft and left unnoticed and unguarded for 36 hours until being discovered by a maintenance crew on the plane in Louisana. * 2010: Nuclear missile silos in Wyoming, USA lost contact with a the main base, meaning that 50 nuclear missiles had an unknown status for an hour and would've been unable to cancel a launch. Luckily, none were launched, it was later discovered that AT&T had not properly installed communication devices, despite assuring the government they had. Nuclear Close Calls Nuclear 'close calls' are moments in history where the world almost came close to witnessing a nuclear war. * 1956: During the Suez Crisis, the US detected unknown aircraft in Turkey, that USSR fighter jets were flying over Syria, that a British bomber aircraft had been shot down over Syria and that the USSR navy was moving out of the Black Sea into the Mediterranean, putting the US on high alert. However, all these events had reasonable explanations, the unknown aircraft in Turkey were a flock of birds detected in radar, a small air force escort by the USSR for the president of Syria, returning from Moscow, that the British bomber had crashed due to mechanical failures and the USSR navy was simply doing scheduled routine exercises.Project of the Nuclear Peace Age Foundation - 20 Mishaps That Might Have Started Accidental Nuclear War * 1960: US radar equipment in Greenland mistakes a moonrise of Norway for a large-scale nuclera missile launch from the USSR. NORAD went on high alert. However, doubts about the authenticity of the attack arose due to the presence of Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev in New York as head of the USSR's United Nations delegation.The New York Times (2018) - Causes of False Missile Alerts: The Sun, the Moon and a 46-Cent Chip * 1961: Three US Ballistic Missile Early Warning Sites (one in Greenland, one in Alaska and on in England) suddenly lost communication with the Strategic Air Command Headquarters, leading them to believe a nuclear strike had taken place and bombers started their engines, awaiting orders. However, a plane in Greenland discovered that no attack had taken place and informed the Strategic Air Command that no attack had taken place. It was later discovered that a telephone relay station in Colorado had a motor that overheated. * 1962: On October 26th, during the Cuban Missile Crisis. The B-59 nuclear patrol submarine owned by the USSR was harassed by US naval forces forcing it to submerge to the ocean floor. Unable to communicate with Moscow and running out of power for its life support systems, the dropping of practice depth charges (underwater bombs) by US ships were mistaken as actual depth charges. The commander of the submarine believed that nuclear war had already begun and Moscow had been destroyed and that the submarine should destroy the american ship. However, a sub-commander persuaded the commander to surface the ship and wait for orders via radio. Later that day, after a US spy plane was shot down over Cuba, another spy plane accidentally strayed in the airspace of the USSR, leading to MiG fighter jets deploying to shoot it down, leading to US F-102 fighter jets being deployed, both armed with nuclear missiles.Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_nuclear_close_calls#27_October_1962 The destruction of a satellite owned by the USSR for unknown reasons led the US to believe a nuclear war was imminent. * 1995: Russian military mistakes a rocket used to research the Aurora Borealis in the Arctic Ocean around Norway as a nuclear missile (as it is traveling at the same size, speed and route as a nuclear weapon) and prepare to launch nuclear weapons against the US and Western Europe, but stop after they realise the mistake.Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian_rocket_incident See Also * Nuclear Energy Category:Libertarian Socialist Wiki Category:Nuclear Weapons